Two of Trump's Favorite Words: 'Who's Calling?'

At a recent Oval Office press conference, President Trump had to silence his phone because it rang two different times during the event. (The calls were from two different congressmen, Trump explained.) It was no fluke: The Atlantic looks at how Trump's phone "has become, in many ways, the most pivotal technological device in the federal government, directly linking Trump to the outside world." Some details:

• "Who's calling?" Trump typically answers (as he did when an Atlantic reporter phoned). One ally tells the outlet that "well over 100" people have Trump's personal number, including fellow world leaders.
• Trump appears to use at least two, possibly three, different iPhones. One is reportedly for social media only. He sometimes changes numbers.

• The piece digs into the very real risk of hackers, particularly from China, listening in on presidential phone calls. But the White House insists that Trump has beefed-up phone security without elaborating, and safety advocates have long given up on the idea of Trump abandoning the device. "It's an obvious massive risk," says Ben Rhodes, a former deputy national security adviser and speechwriter under former President Obama.
• Trump loves not just to receive calls but to place them, and he'll leave voicemails, as he did with Dilbert creator Scott Adams after Adams' cancer diagnosis, the cartoonist recounts.
• The story looks at the strategies that have emerged among aides on whether and when to call. One adviser says he'll ask those near Trump for a head's up: They'll say, "He just left dinner and just walked into the residence," says the adviser. "And I know multiple people who do the same thing, who game-plan it out and talk to the people around him and say, 'Tell me when it's a good time.'" (Read the full story.)